Post by schlager7 on Jul 7, 2021 12:51:04 GMT -6
UK student, 3-time Olympian Lee Keifer looks to make history
UK student, 3-time Olympian Lee Keifer looks to make history in fencing at Tokyo Olympics
Kirby Adams
Louisville Courier Journal
University of Kentucky medical student Lee Keifer is taking another stab at the Olympic Games in Toyko this month.
She will enter Tokyo ranked as the top American female foil fencer and No. 5 in the world. If she's on point at the games, the 27-year-old will become the first U.S. woman to win a gold medal in individual foil competition.
Tokyo will make Keifer's third trip to the games. She competed as a 17-year-old at the 2012 London Olympics. She finished fifth in the individual and sixth in the team competition. At the 2018 Olympic Games in Rio she finished 10th in the individual competition.
A family of fencers
The three-time Olympian first learned the sport from her father, Steven Kiefer, a Lexington neurosurgeon and one-time captain of the Duke University fencing team.
Steven Keifer taught the sport to all three of his kids. While they started in the family dining room it wasn't long before each of the three siblings stepped into the national spotlight.
Lee Keifer's older sister, Alex, won the 2011 NCAA championship in foil fencing for Harvard. Their younger brother, Axel, was an NCAA runner-up competing for Notre Dame in foil fencing in 2019.
Keifer won the NCAA championship four times as an undergrad at Notre Dame. In 2017 she became the first U.S. female foil fencer to earn the No. 1 world ranking.
When she heads to Toyko this month, Keifer, who is sponsored by the Dairy Alliance, won't be traveling alone. Her husband, Gerek Meinhardt, 30, enters the Olympic Games ranked No. 2 in the world among male foil fencers.
The couple hopes to win four gold medals — one each for wife and husband in both foil fencing individual and team competitions. All that hardware would mean they'll need an extra carry-on bag for their flight home from the Olympics to Kentucky.
UK student, 3-time Olympian Lee Keifer looks to make history in fencing at Tokyo Olympics
Kirby Adams
Louisville Courier Journal
University of Kentucky medical student Lee Keifer is taking another stab at the Olympic Games in Toyko this month.
She will enter Tokyo ranked as the top American female foil fencer and No. 5 in the world. If she's on point at the games, the 27-year-old will become the first U.S. woman to win a gold medal in individual foil competition.
Tokyo will make Keifer's third trip to the games. She competed as a 17-year-old at the 2012 London Olympics. She finished fifth in the individual and sixth in the team competition. At the 2018 Olympic Games in Rio she finished 10th in the individual competition.
A family of fencers
The three-time Olympian first learned the sport from her father, Steven Kiefer, a Lexington neurosurgeon and one-time captain of the Duke University fencing team.
Steven Keifer taught the sport to all three of his kids. While they started in the family dining room it wasn't long before each of the three siblings stepped into the national spotlight.
Lee Keifer's older sister, Alex, won the 2011 NCAA championship in foil fencing for Harvard. Their younger brother, Axel, was an NCAA runner-up competing for Notre Dame in foil fencing in 2019.
Keifer won the NCAA championship four times as an undergrad at Notre Dame. In 2017 she became the first U.S. female foil fencer to earn the No. 1 world ranking.
When she heads to Toyko this month, Keifer, who is sponsored by the Dairy Alliance, won't be traveling alone. Her husband, Gerek Meinhardt, 30, enters the Olympic Games ranked No. 2 in the world among male foil fencers.
The couple hopes to win four gold medals — one each for wife and husband in both foil fencing individual and team competitions. All that hardware would mean they'll need an extra carry-on bag for their flight home from the Olympics to Kentucky.